News (blog)

SFPA is pleased to announce that
Representative Juan C. Zapata will be the special guest speaker at
SFPA's Fall Seminar to be held on Saturday, November 19th, at the
Country Club of Coral Gables. For those of you who are not aware, Mr.
Zapata is the District 119 delegate representing Miami-Dade County in
the Florida House of Representatives and introduced the proposed
legislation to regulate the paralegal profession and also sits as a
member of the Florida Bar's Committee to Study Paralegal Regulation.
We are honored to announce his attendance at the seminar in which he
will be discussing the current status of the regulation of our
profession.

Since the seminar is only five days away, you may register by
sending me an email at mworkman@sfpa.info, or fax your registration
form to me at 305-376-6010. You may pay upon your arrival at the
seminar, however; we must have your registration form no later that 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2005.

The entire SFPA Board of Directors and I are pleased Mr. Zapata has agreed to speak on this important topic.

With Hurricane Wilma looming offshore, and its arrival date
uncertain at this time, the SFPA Board decided to reschedule the Fall
Seminar planned to take place on Saturday, October 22, 2005 to
Saturday, November 19, 2005. This will allow all attendees and
speakers time to secure their own homes to prepare for the storm in
advance of its arrival.

The revised registration form is located on page 22 of the November 2005 edition of the SFPA Journal - http://www.sfpa.info/site/Newsletters2005/November2005.pdf.
An email to all members announcing the change will be circulated
today. Those currently registered to attend the Fall Seminar will
either be contacted via email or telephone with the contact information
provided on the registration forms.

Don't forget our Fall Seminar is on October 22nd. Registration form is available in the SFPA Journal for
your added convenience. Sign up today, and pass along the information
to other Paralegals or interested parties in your place of business.

The South Florida Paralegal Association's (SFPA) monthly newsletter is now available online to the general public!

Until recently, SFPA's newsletter, the SFPA Journal was only available to members, and sent via U.S. Mail. Due to the recent improvements to SFPA's website, www.sfpa.info,
the most valuable portion of the newsletter, Career Opportunities - the
private, advertising section for those discriminating employers who
know the value of a SFPA member employee - is now posted on the
member-only section of the website.

Realizing the value of providing the South Florida paralegal community at large, the resources available in the SFPA Journal, the Board of Directors decided to make the remainder of the SFPA Journal available to the public through our new website.

The South Florida Paralegal
Association ("SFPA") announced today that it will begin participation
in providing its member’s services to the Put Something Back Pro Bono
Project (PSB) which provides legal services to the less fortunate
people of Miami-Dade County.

Mark Workman, President of the SFPA, states that he will immediately
begin recruiting members to volunteer their time and provide
professional paralegal services to this worthy cause. "We are bound by
our ethical and professional duties both as an association and
individually, to give something back to the less fortunate of our
community", he said. Over the past several months, Workman has been
coordinating SFPA member involvement with Karen Ladis of PSB to provide her office with necessary services to the community. "PSB
needs paralegals to assist our office to help our program achieve our
goal of delivering pro bono legal assistance to the underprivileged of
the community. We are pleased with SFPA’s efforts in this regard", she
said.

The PSB is the official program for providing pro bono, or free
legal assistance to the needy population of Miami-Dade County. It is
designed to increase access to the civil legal system by serving as an
umbrella agency for referral to all other legal service providers and
as a clearinghouse for attorneys who volunteer to help the less
fortunate and underprivileged people of the community.

Through this project, clients are referred to volunteer attorneys
experienced in a wide range of legal matters, including: family cases;
children's matters requiring Guardians Ad Litem in juvenile dependency,
probate and civil court; consumer and housing concerns; domestic
violence permanent injunction matters; AIDS and other health crisis
issues; social security and veterans benefits; employment matters; the
preparation and processing of wills; and, non-fee generating civil
court cases where damages at issue are greater than $5,000. Since its
inception in 1992, the program has handled nearly 34,000 cases and
recruited more than 7,000 attorneys, including 210 law firms who have
signed up 100% of their membership. It is the largest and most
comprehensive pro bono project in Florida.

SFPA is a Miami-Dade County based paralegal association affiliated
with the National Association of Legal Assistants. Since 1979 it has
served the legal community of South Florida. To learn more about SFPA,
please visit their website at www.sfpa.info.